One last Promise
by Alja
Summary: There are many things Roy had promised to Edward for his 520 cenz. Now it's up to Edward to promise something in return. Deathfic. Mentions of Royai and Edwin. Submission to tumblr's parental!RoyEd week's prompt "520 cenz".


**Summary:** There are many things Roy had promised to Edward for his 520 cenz. Now it's up to Edward to promise something in return. Deathfic. Mentions of Royai and Edwin. Submission to tumblr's parental!RoyEd week's prompt "520 cenz"

 **Disclaimer:** All characters belong to Hiromu Arakawa. The name "Henry" for Edward's son in the new Elric family picture was a joint invention/choice with Queen Elenya Hawk.

 **Please enjoy!**

* * *

Edward Elric did not like this day at all.

It wasn't the fact that he had to travel by train to get to his destination. He was accustomed to traveling by train, and while he wasn't 16 anymore, the comfort of the seats had increased a lot. It also wasn't the weather. Sure, the occasional drizzle annoyed him pretty much and the humidity started to increase enough to hurt his automail port, but it wasn't that ache that made him dread this encounter.

"Hey."

It was an ache in his heart; an ache strong enough to let him forget the pain in his leg.

"You know, I did say 'go to hell', I say it pretty much all the time, but I didn't mean it quite this literally."

The blond haired man bent down and placed a small bouquet of lilies together with an accompanying vase down onto the fresh earth. He exhaled deeply as he drew his hands back into his pockets.

"Sorry, I'm late. After our last meeting, I headed off into the west immediately. I only heard about you four days ago. I boarded the next train."

Edward let his eyes roam the small hill. They inadvertently fell upon a headstone nearby, plastered with pictures of friends and family, and the corner of his lips curled up for a second.

"Heart attack, huh? Figures. You always got off over the smallest things. Like Hughes talking about Elicia or me talking about Henry. Speaking of him, he just learned a new word: 'Führer'. I'm sure you'd be proud."

With a sigh, Edward turned his attention back to the gray stone in front of him, but despite his best efforts, the inscription was too blurred for him to read. He refused to admit even to himself that this was not the inscription's fault.

"Remember when I borrowed those 520 cenz years ago? You nearly got a heart attack back then over 20 cenz that I wanted to save! Geez!"

He snuffled and turned his eyes away yet again. They focused on a small, foldable chair right next to the small well that visitors used to get water for their plants.

"Excuse me," he murmured, with his head bowed slightly, before he turned around to trudge down the narrow path to the well. He reached out for one of the empty watering cans and filled it up with fresh water before he grabbed the chair, returned to the grave and unfolded it in front of the grave's flowerbed, but he didn't sit down yet.

"I kept the money until you made Führer. However, it took you a little longer than i imagined; who knew Grumman was this power hungry? But he did train you and you're no saint either, so I should have expected that, right?"

Edward lifted the other vase sitting in the middle of the flowerbed and carefully removed the roses before turning it upside down to empty its contents. He filled it up with fresh water and replaced the roses - red at the base and orange at the tips. They reminded him of a burning flame.

He had an idea who the roses might be from.

"I still refused to pay you back even after you made Führer," Edward continued speaking as he finally sat down on the small chair.

"Do you remember your dumbfounded face? I think Havoc even took a picture of it."

He grinned, but when his gaze fell upon the roses again, his facial expression became pensive.

" 'Make her happy first' I told you instead of paying up. And for once you didn't play dumb; you knew exactly who I meant and you only nodded. You marched away, grasped her hand even though she was still talking to Colonel Armstrong, and as soon as she turned around, you were down on one knee."

He slumped into a more comfortable position on his chair and smiled at the memory.

"I've never seen her eyes sparkle like that before," he huffed, a sly grin on his face, "I was scared the Colonel had rubbed off some sparkles on her! But she was genuinely happy - I saw a tear escape her eyes. I've never seen Hawkeye crying before! Oh, sorry - I should be calling her Mustang now, right? Lieutenant-Colonel Mustang."

Having them dangling along his body in an uncomfortable manner, Edward tucked his hands into his pockets now. He grasped the hard metal in one of the pockets and the soft handkerchief in the other and started playing with them. It calmed him down somewhat, to hold the familiar weight of the metal in his palm again.

"I was so elated by Winry's pregnancy that I made you promise something else at your wedding. You never agreed. 'Too soon', 'Too old', 'We don't deserve it'. Those were your excuses."

He clutched the items in his right pocket now.

"When… _this_ happened, Riza called the Team and us. I was in Creta, but Winry drove down to Central immediately. Gracia had offered her help and already stayed with her when Winry arrived."

Edward cleared his throat.

"I know, it was supposed to be a secret, but Winry heard the retching one morning and saw Gracia comfort the Lieutenant-Colonel. Winry knows that I sometimes say stupid things, things that I don't mean that way, and to prevent such a situation, she told me."

He straightened up on his seat and pulled his balled fist out, holding onto the content of the right pocket.

"I wanted to ask you for democracy after this. I guess I can't do that now, huh? And even though technically you never agreed on that last promise, I guess I should pay up."

Edward stood up from the chair and for the first time ever, he looked down at the inscription.

* * *

 _Roy Mustang_  
 _1885 - 1930_  
 _Dedicated Führer and beloved husband_

* * *

"Congratulations, daddy."

Edward put four coins down onto the headstone, one after the other, to check the amount one last time. He had collected them out of his wallet the minute after he had held the fateful phone call with Winry and Riza, and he had occasionally checked the amount to make sure he wouldn't make a mistake. As soon as he had boarded the train, his hand had sneaked into his pocket again and he had kept fingering the coins to try and keep himself calm.

Two 200 cenz coins, one 100 cenz coin and one 20 cenz coin lay on the gray stone. 520 cenz.

"We're even now."

He sighed deeply again.

"I know how much you loved her. She told Winry about how scared she was to tell you about her pregnancy because it went against everything you two had ever imagined, but wow, I never imagined you to get all dopey about it! You would have been a great father. I should know; after all, you were the closest thing to a father to Al and me besides Sig - even though I hated your guts when I was young. But I also hated my real dad, so I guess you can classify it as some kind of special affection?"

Edward's face grew serious again as he lowered his head. His golden bangs blocked the view of his surroundings now and all that he could see was the name inscribed into the stone in front of him. He concentrated on that, swallowing a large lump in his throat.

"Now it's time for me to promise _you_ something. I promise you to protect her. Her and the little one. And I promise you that we'll try to make your vision of Amestris come true. Führer Armstrong wants to give the Parliament a chance, so we're still on the right track."

He cracked a small smile at the cold stone. It was weak, but it was there.

"We'll keep moving forward. For you _and_ for us."

Edward's eyes lingered on the name for another minute before he closed his eyes and turned around, his back to the grave. A grin lay on his lips, but the single tear running down Edward's cheek betrayed his true feelings.

"Goodbye my friend."


End file.
